Wozniak, Dubois, Dancevic move ahead at French Open

Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak returns the ball to Serbia's Ana Jovanovic during their Fed cup tennis match on February 6, 2011, in Novi Sad.

Photograph by: Andrej Isakovic
, AFP/Getty Images

PARIS — Aleksandra Wozniak’s return to the tennis courts was a successful one Wednesday.

The 23-year-old from Blainville, Que., defeated Jing-Jing Lu of China 6-0, 7-5 to advance to the second round of qualifying at the French Open in Paris.

It wasn’t without incident.

Wozniak led 6-0, 3-0 before Lu mounted a comeback; the 22-year-old from China even served for the second set at 5-4.

Wozniak’s next opponent will be Kathrin Woerle of Germany, a 27-year-old ranked No. 141 who is trying to qualify for her first French Open main draw in her seventh attempt.

Conversely, the Canadian has reached at least the third round at Roland Garros the last three years, but is returning from a forearm injury that has kept her off the courts, with brief exceptions, since last July.

Also Wednesday, Heidi El Tabakh of Oakville, Ont., fell in the first qualifying round 7-5, 6-3 to Sally Peers of Australia. A year ago, El Tabakh won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw, where she played ñ and lost to Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai on the main stadium, Court Philippe Chatrier.

Two other Canadians advanced Wednesday.

Laval, Que.’s Stephanie Dubois defeated Alexandra Panova of Russia 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, while Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., defeated Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 7-6, 7-6. Dubois will play Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia Thursday in the second round; Dancevic faces Victor Crivoi of Romania in the third and final men’s qualifying round on Friday.

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